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swarm question

I got a swarm call today. Got there in 5 minutes. Bees were gone. How long after a swarm do the bees leave? If a person tried to track them how far will they fly before they go into tree. I got a swarm last week and arrived too late, but before I left I thought they came back. Another keeper said it was a second swarm probably off thesame hive. Thoughts?

Re: swarm question

They are bees. You never know for sure. Usually they stay until all the scouts decide on a permanent location, they will tip you off of an impending exodus because all the scouts on the swarm will be doing the same dance. If you see several different dances they are generally there for a while. But there are no guarantees sometimes other factors cause them to change temporary locations. A swarm will sometimes sit in a tree by a road all day. When work lets out, and trafic increases they may move. Ya just never know.

Re: swarm question

Tenbears makes an interesting point. Sometimes noise will cause them to get airbourne. At least 2 times we put a swarm in the air with a stapler. (attaching an apron to the landing board) The hollow "bonk" of the stapler on the hive body put them in flight. One just went to another tree 30 yards away, but the other headed off cross country. On another occasion, clanging an aluminum ladder on an adjacent limb was too much.
Bottom line: Hold down the noise when preparing to hive a swarm.

Re: swarm question

Just collected one last night. They had been there 3 days. I shook them day before yesterday and they ended up back on the same limb by morning. Missed the queen I guess. Shook them again last night and they were all in the box in 15 minutes.